This picture has been all over the internet lately, purported to be a photo of a Spitfire about to tumble a Vergeltungswaffe 1 (Vengeance Weapon 1), AKA V1, AKA Buzz Bomb, AKA Doodlebug. While it is a perfect depiction of a manoeuvre performed by RAF pilots during those dark times when the V1 “buzz bomb” raids were being launched against targets in England, it isn’t a photograph. Rather it’s a black and white detail taken from the beautifully rendered piece of digital art titled “Tipping Point” by Australian Artist Mark Donoghue. The uncropped original colour image is below.

All this being said, the widespread confusion over its origin does not diminish the Truth of what it represents — an undeniably intrepid moment that was played out over and over at no small risk to those who went cheerfully forth to pull it off. Before going forward, here is an actual period photograph that, while less artistic, is no less dramatic.

The V1 was a primitive version of what is referred to today as a “cruise missile”. Powered by a pulsejet engine, it was launched from a rail and equipped with a crude but effective guidance system designed to take it to a preset altitude on a preset course calculated to bring it to a predetermined target. Distance and course to be travelled were dialed in at the launch point based on time to target under current meteorological conditions, and when that time limit was reached, spoilers were deployed to reduce speed, the engine extinguished, and the missile became a bomb that simply plummeted onto whatever was below.

“Because of its limited range, the thousands of V-1 missiles launched into England were fired from launch facilities along the French (Pas-de-Calais) and Dutch coasts. The first V-1 was launched at London on 13 June 1944, one week after (and prompted by) the successful Allied landings in Europe. At peak, more than one hundred V-1s a day were fired at south-east England, 9,521 in total, decreasing in number as sites were overrun until October 1944, when the last V-1 site in range of Britain was overrun by Allied forces. After this, the V-1s were directed at the port of Antwerp and other targets in Belgium, with 2,448 V-1s being launched. The attacks stopped only a month before the war in Europe ended, when the last launch site in the Low Countries was overrun on 29 March 1945.

“The British operated an arrangement of air defences, including anti-aircraft guns and fighter aircraft, to intercept the bombs before they reached their targets as part of Operation Crossbow, while the launch sites and underground V-1 storage depots were targets of strategic bombing.” ~ V-1 flying bomb

Countermeasures mounted against the V1 onslaught were naturally based on established air defense systems of early warning radar, anti-aircraft artillery (AAA), and fighter interception. But from the fighter pilot’s perspective, this was no mere enemy aircraft they were pursuing.

Because it carried a warhead consisting of 850 kg (1,870 lb) of high explosive, shooting at it was out of the question. But the V1 was a blunt instrument to be sure, and destructive enough to demand development of effective countermeasures from the RAF. The simplicity of the V1 guidance system became its downfall when pilots learned that the gyroscope controlling roll (the angle of bank of the wings) could only recover stability if the angle did not exceed a certain critical number. Any more than that and it would tumble leading to a total loss of control.

Cruising at around 400 mph, the V1 was just a little slower than the aircraft dispatched to intercept it, and therefore subject to interception while still over the English Channel or rural farmlands. The technique of destruction did not involve physically touching the V1 with your own wing, but rather positioning the tip of your wing under its wingtip and slowly raising it until the airflow over both wings began to interact. The V1’s wing would begin to move away from yours causing a roll away from your aircraft. Keep chasing it until it tumbled away and it’s game over. At least that was the idea.

Any pilot experienced with close formation flying will tell you that performing this manoeuvre in concert with an aircraft droning along at a fixed speed on a fixed course at a fixed altitude, is a simple thing to do, particularly for pilots schooled in manoeuvring for lethal advantage against like minded adversaries. High performance aerobatic teams like the Snowbirds, Thunderbirds, and Blue Angels fly in breathtakingly close formation through a wide range of speeds and angles, and draw even closer when the air is turbulent. Why? Because when the air around the aircraft you’re flying in formation with is bouncing it around, getting closer will ensure you’re bouncing in the same air it is.

All so very simple until you add the fact that you’re travelling at 400 miles per hour in touching distance of an unstable piece of enemy technology stuffed with nearly a ton of high explosive.

I once had opportunity to speak at length with an authenticated RAF Spitfire Mk.IX pilot who had on one occasion been scrambled to intercept a V1 on its way to London.

On the day in question, by the time our pilot and his wingman located their very own V1, it had just gone “feet dry” over the coast. As lead, it fell to our man come up alongside it and position himself for the killing stroke. He held off until clear of any villages, finally passing over and well beyond an isolated farmhouse before the deed was done. The buzz bomb banked away hard right, rolled once before entering a steep descent, and after a near 180 degree turn augered in adjacent to the farm house which was completely destroyed by the explosion of its warhead.

Sobered, lead reported the situation, and rejoined his wingman in a long and tense flight back to base before learning the house was abandoned.